Coming to Terms...

Today is my birthday.

I am 52!

You may be tempted to feel sorry for me in my old age. Heaven knows I have! But as I've wrestled with this whole aging thing I have discovered some hidden benefits. I want to share a few with you today, as my birthday gift to you.

1. I am much more comfortable in my own skin. Getting older has given me the freedom to be ME. I still like to present myself as best I can, but I have come to terms with who I am and that I don’t need others approval – at least to the degree I did when I was younger.

2. I think I have mellowed out with age. While others may challenge this, I am very aware of a shift in many of my attitudes. (This will be the topic of a future blog post.)

3. Finally, most people over 40 need reading glasses to see things up close. While this can be a hassle, I have discovered an upside - the worse my eyes get, the less wrinkles I seem to have! It’s all in how you look at things!

I want to discover more joy in this phase of the journey. If you have some to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Death by Gym

I am going to be D.E.A.D tomorrow.

Hopefully not literally, but if you never hear from me again, check the obituaries and know that you were among the first to know.

But I am going to be D.E.A.D. tomorrow. So dead sore I won't be able to move tomorrow.

I neglected reserving a spot for my Pilates class this afternoon and since no one was signed up this morning the teacher made other plans.

I even went to work today, instead of staying home in bed (which at 6:00am seemed like the best thing to do to try and get better) so I could go to my Pilates class.

You know it’s that whole responsible thing I seem to have a problem with.

Anyway I decided that if I couldn’t do Pilates I would simply go to the next class that was offered.

(Did I mention I was going to be D.E.A.D tomorrow?!)

BodyPump. Sounded fun and good for me. I was even early, anxious to be a part of a new class. I mean, how hard could it be? A little weight-lifting? No problem!

D.E.A.D.

I knew I was in trouble when, after finishing a series of killer lunges, the teacher had us kneel down on one knee for a grand finale and when I tried to stand up I collapsed in a heap. The girl next me asked if I was okay. “Yes,” I replied, crawling to the corner to try and pull myself up, only to discover that my arms had been transformed into wet spaghetti noodles too.

D.E.A.D.

The sad thing is that several of the women who had been in my class felt pumped up enough to stay for the next class – BodyAttack. It was all I could do to drag myself into the locker room!

D.E.A.D

You can leave your condolences, or if you would rather, donations to my bank account would also be appreciated!

Avete Zumba?

A while ago I wrote about my Pilates Path. I have found my group class and always feel better after a great workout on the reformer (thanks Janna!).

I have recently discovered a new (for me) awesome workout in

I've known about Zumba for a long time, but I had never experienced it until a couple of weeks ago. I am hooked! It is so fun and such an amazing workout. A girl in today's class was wearing a bodybugg.

After our one hour Zumba class, her bodybugg calculated she had burned 800 calories!! And she had fun doing it!

I approached my first Zumba class with a little uneasiness, not sure what to expect or how I would fit in. Any anxiety quickly disappeared as the music was cranked up and we started dancing. Everyone was just there to have fun and we were all so busy trying to keep up with the teacher we didn't have time to think about anything else!

Pilates is an integral part of my fitness regime, and now so is Zumba! You should Zumba too!

(the time I spend in the steam room afterwards is not too bad either!)

If you want to know a great place to Zumba, leave a comment with your email and I will get you all the details!

Labor Days and Brownies

Today I had a very Lazy Labor Day.

I slept in until 10:00 am.

I watched more TV today than I have watched in the past six months combined:

Two (or was it three?) episodes of Bones,

The end of Never Been Kissed,

and, No Reservations.

I am in a real funk.

I feel like I am flatlined.

It hit me today during a commercial for Martha Stewart's TV show how very little creativity I am expressing right now - in any area of my life.

I can't even find something interesting to write about on my blog!

I'm not depressed, just a little empty. It's kind of like when you make brownies. You have this bowl of rich, creamy chocolate. After you've filled the pan with batter and it's tucked away in the oven, you still have the bowl (and spoon) with chocolate brownie batter on it (because no one ever puts all the brownie batter into the oven, right?!) So, what do you do? Wash it out? No! You lick that bowl and spoon until they are almost clean. And it's always kind of sad when there's no more brownie batter to lick clean! So, there you have it - I feel like a used up bowl of brownie batter! Nice. See what I mean... there's just nothing left!! I need to refill that bowl! But, how?!

Lest you think my weekend was dreary, fear not!

I did have a very fun time being silly with my girls.

I was happy that I was able to see most of my kids.

I loved being home with Dave, he takes such good care of me.

I was grateful for the time to rest.

My bowl is actually quite full, isn't it?!

How do you fill your "bowl"?